


the big picture

by orphan_account



Series: Orphanage Verse [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-06-08
Updated: 2007-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part 2 of the Orphanage Verse - in which the kids are introduced</p>
            </blockquote>





	the big picture

_March_

 

~*~

 

"Won-won!"

There was a squeal. A stray hand hit a cup of tea on the edge of the breakfast table and it crashed to the ground, splashing liquid and shards all over the floor.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Laughter. First high-pitched, then another, darker chuckle. There was a sound of a door slamming somewhere in another part of the house, and a woman's voice, admonishing, "Will you stop that, you little demon child?"

Ron let his head drop forward onto the table and slammed his forehead against the wooden tabletop with a groan.

"Is Won-Won feeling sick?" a little-girl voice asked from beneath his elbow. She grabbed his sleeve with her puffy baby hands and blinked up at him from her huge, dark eyes.

"I hate you all," Ron mumbled. At the sound of rich, dark laughter from the other side of the table, he looked up and glared. "Especially you!"

Harry's grin was huge as he held up his hands in defense. "I didn't do anything!"

"Won-won!"

"Betty! Please, stop calling me that. It's Ron."

Another bout of bright laughter escaped Harry. "You know, I think when Lavender came by last weekend with that paperwork, she might have -"

"Don't even say it, Harry!" Ron pointed a finger at him. "Don't even!"

Harry cackled.

"Ron." Betty blinked, as if surprised at herself that she'd said it right.

"That's it!" Ron cooed triumphantly and picked her up from her spot, heaving her onto his lap. "Well done, lovely!"

Betty gave a delighted little squeal. "Won-won! Betty is lovvvry!"

Harry just snorted.

 

~*~

 

The cup had shattered towards the end of breakfast time. It would have been worse, Harry thought, if it had happened while the kids were still in the kitchen.

"You don't need to do this, Harry," Ron said gently. "I made the mess, I'll clean it up."

"It's no big deal." Harry smiled. "Just watch your step, don't hurt yourself."

Ron loved to go barefoot in the mornings. These days, there were certain risks attached to that. Harry kneeled down and picked up the last few pieces of china and considered investing in plastic cups.

"Harry, what are you doing? Would you stop acting like you don't know any magic anymore? If you cut yourself, I'll have to take you to St. Mungo's and I know how you feel about the hospital."

"Ron." Harry rolled his eyes and put the shards in the trash. "Mop up the tea stain, will you? The paper towel's right there on the counter. Yeah. That one. Thanks."

"Wouldn't it be easier if we just -?"

"No. You know how I feel about this. Just let it go, all right?"

Ron grumbled, but he did as Harry had asked and mopped up. Harry stood by the sink and when Ron tried to access the trash, he stayed right where he was, not budging. Instead, he smiled up at his taller friend with a mischievous grin.

Ron couldn't stay mad at him when he did this, which Harry knew. He watched as Ron gave a wry smirk - know exactly what you're doing, you bastard - and then gave in and wrapped his arms around Harry's waist to get to the trash, where he disposed of the paper towel.

"Playing hook-up so early in the morning, are we?" he asked with a grin.

"You tell me," Harry said.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't think we're going to get far, do you?" He kissed Harry on the lips and just then, the door to the kitchen was thrown open and two out-of-breath sounding boys bounced in; they were in the midst of pulling at each other's shirts. One was nine, the other eight years old, and worse, they were brothers, which meant that they were at each other's throats all the time.

"Roooon!" June wailed. "'mione said you should tell July to stop changing the channels on the TV!"

"She did not!" July, who was the older of the two, complained with a pout. "She only said you we should shut up. But June doesn't want to go out and play, and his stupid cartoons are boring!"

Ron coughed and glanced at Harry - told you, didn't I? - before he turned back to the boys. "Guys," he said. "We're a bit busy here, do you mind?"

"But July doesn't want to let me -"  
"But June is being all -"

"Boys!" Ron's voice was sharp. They shut up instantly. "June. Just steal the remote back, for heaven's sake."

Harry gave a snort. He couldn't help it. If this was Ron's professional advice how to deal with your siblings, it was no wonder the twins had gotten away with everything.

"He doesn't use the remote!" June said, eyes wide with indignation.

That made Ron pause. "He doesn't?"

July smirked, eyes gleaming with superiority.

Harry didn't know who had come up with the idea of naming orphan children after months, but they still hadn't found out the boys' real names, so the ones they had stuck.

He had found them himself in the ruins of Fortescue's ice cream parlour, back when the first attacks on Diagon Alley had happened in his seventh year at Hogwarts. Harry remembered finding the two of them hovering over their mother's body, shell-shocked and so silent like he never wanted to hear a child again. July had had both his arms curled around his brother protectively, shielding him with his whole body when Harry'd taken a step closer to carry them out of the ruined building.

They hadn't reacted to much for months after they were found, and so no one had ever found out their names, despite Harry's stubborn insistence that it was important to find out their identities.

"Harry?"

"What?"

Ron was looking at him strangely. "I said, apparently, July is starting to show some magical ability. Which, may I add, is kind of, you know... shit!" Ron flailed his arms at his sides.

Harry sighed. "What's one more, at this rate?" They already had three kids starting to experiment with magic.

"You're one to talk," Ron grumbled, but left his comfortable spot by Harry's side to get the kids dressed and up to McGonagall for a magical examination. Any of the children they had here went through that when they first started showing signs. Nobody wanted any accidents to happen.

Harry didn't fail to see the irony in Ron's words. "Courage, my friend," he said with a laugh. "At least, you can be fairly sure now that we're rid of them for most of the year once they turn eleven!"

 

~*~


End file.
